What Next?
by misteriousmist
Summary: What could happen next season. Or rather, what could happen immediately after 2x10. Focus on Normero and Norman.
1. Chapter 1

Norman had passed the polygraph. Inside, Romero felt a flood of relief fill him. He had watched as Norma and Dylan embraced and wanted to put his arms around Norma, too. It wasn't the first time he'd felt a desire to touch her. He wasn't exactly sure when that had started, but it was clear to him when he had first realised it. The day he had kicked the shit out of Zane, who had only gotten one good punch in. Norma had insisted on cleaning the cut above his eyebrow. Her touch, and her close proximity had him momentarily under her spell. He'd wanted to kiss her. After that he'd gotten out of her house pretty quick.

Driving back to the motel now, Alex couldn't get her out of his mind. Now that he had been assured that Norman didn't kill Blair Watson, he had little else to think about. The drug war was over, Dylan would take over the Morgan's business and someone from Nick Ford's employ would no doubt step up. Romero let himself into his motel room and closed the door, breathing deeply for a moment or two. He set his gun down on the bedside table, and sat on the bed to take off his shoes. It was late afternoon, not dark yet, but all he wanted to do was take a shower and sleep till tomorrow.

Norman had passed the polygraph. Norma couldn't believe it. She was sure Norman had killed his teacher. But all that mattered now was that they could be together. Norman wasn't going anywhere. She hadn't been able to let go of him until they got home, and so Dylan had driven back. Even while Norma cooked, she wouldn't let Norman from her sights. Norman had barely said a word.

Norma knew she hadn't yet thanked Alex for rescuing Norman. Dylan had given the full story on how the Sheriff had given him a free pass on killing Nick Ford, too. Now that she knew Norman was safe, from Nick Ford and from being arrested for murder, things could get back to normal, finally. After making dinner for her sons, Norma went down to the motel to speak with Romero.

After eating takeout he'd ordered over the phone, Romero had the hot water running and was just about to unbuckle his belt when he heard a loud knock on the door. He hesitated a moment, wondering whether to just ignore it and get in the shower, but turned off the water with a sigh. Grabbing a shirt, he hastily put it on without bothering to button it up and moved to answer the door. He looked through the curtains first to see who had knocked. It was Norma. Of course, who else would it be? He opened the door part way.

"Hi, Alex, I - " She began, before noticing he wasn't dressed. Her eyes roamed his torso, widening slightly. A small smile tugged on the corners of her mouth. Romero looked away from her, taking his hands off the door and frame to button his shirt. Secretly, he was pleased that she was pleased by the sight of him almost shirtless. But he didn't allow her to see that on his face. "Norma. What can I do for you?"

Norma tore her gaze from his body and took a moment to regain her composure before answering. "I just.. I wanted to thank you for saving Norman the other day." She looked up at him as she answered. "Dylan told me everything." Norma continued after a pause. Romero gazed at her, not moving. "Thank you." She finished. Part of her wanted to put her arms around him.

"Just doing my job." Romero answered. Norma smiled, and turned away to walk back to the house. After several moments, she heard Alex's door close.

Romero watched Norma as she walked away, expressionless. After he closed the door, he finally allowed himself to smile. What was with that woman? How did she affect him like this? He turned the shower on and stripped off quickly this time, heaving a deep sigh of relief as the hot water ran over his skin.


	2. Chapter 2

When Romero woke up, he could have just stayed in bed all day. It was Sunday, and he could hear the rain pouring outside. But the one thing he wanted to do was talk to Deputy Lynn. She needed to know now that they had gotten the right guy for Blair Watson's murder.

Romero drove to the station, one hand on the wheel, one stroking his chin. He was thinking about whether to rebuild or just get a new place all together. Obviously he couldn't stay at the Bates Motel forever. Not that he wanted to. He was a private person, and sharing walls with other people wasn't exactly his idea of privacy. Especially with Norma going in and out of his room every day. He kept a lot of his belongings in his office and truck, so that she couldn't snoop.

* * *

Norma was down in the motel office late that morning. Yesterday had been hard on her, so she'd slept in. Norman however had been there since seven. "Good morning Norman. Look what I brought you." Norma greeted her son brightly, handing him a breakfast muffin on a small plate. "Thank you, Mother." Norma watched him eat it, deep in thought. Norman smiled as he ate, but as soon as he finished he was out the door. "I'll take this back up to the house. I found a bird this morning that I want to start working on."

"Norman!" Norma called after him, but her son was already running up the stairs to their home. She sighed, sat down in her chair and opened the laptop, checking for bookings. There were no new reservations. Sighing again, Norma's thoughts returned to the subject she'd been thinking about all night. How to get Norman out of that basement. It just wasn't normal for a seventeen year old boy to be stuffing dead things. Isn't that how people turned into serial killers?

* * *

Romero arrived at the station and immediately called Deputy Lynn into his office. "Sheriff?" She made her presence known, standing in the doorway. "Shut the door." He said, without looking at her. She did as told, moving around his desk to sit in front of him, arms crossed. He finally looked up from his laptop. "I had Norman Bates take a polygraph. He's innocent." He said slowly, watching her. She looked surprised. "Polygraphs aren't always reliable." Her expression changed to one of defiance.

Romero raised his eyebrows. Lynn wasn't a bad cop. A bit overzealous, maybe, but she was still learning about how things worked in this town. He closed the laptop and stood up, opening the door for Deputy Lynn. "Don't forget what I said," he answered. It was a vague threat. Putting on his leather jacket, he followed Lynn out, deciding to actually take his day off after all.

* * *

Norma decided that enough was enough, as far as Norman's taxidermy was concerned. She marched up to the house, an excuse to get him back down to the motel already formed. "Norman!" She called as she closed the front door behind her. She walked quickly to the basement, hurrying down the steps to see Norman about to make his first incision into a small brown bird. "Norman honey, I need you to look after the motel until I get back. " Norman looked up at her. "Okay Mother. I guess I'll start this later."

"I'm sorry Norman. I forgot I had to go to the council today for a meeting," Norma lied. Norman washed his hands and then followed her back to the motel office silently. "I won't be long," Norma promised as she got in her car and started it. She smiled and waved to him as she drove away, thinking about what she was really going to do while he cleaned the rooms this morning.

* * *

Romero was just walking to his truck when Norma skidded to a stop next to him. "Can I buy you a coffee?" she asked, looking a little desperate. _What now? _Romero wondered, thinking before answering. But he couldn't say no. "Ah, sure…?" He looked at her questioningly. She didn't give him a reason. "Meet you at the place across from the dock in five," Norma said, before driving off. Romero watched her go, perplexed. Was she in trouble again?

He reached his truck, started it, and drove to the meeting point, parking next to Norma. She got out of her car, smiled at him but didn't say a word. They walked into the café together and sat down at a booth by the window. Romero waited until a waitress had taken their orders. "Are you going to tell me why you're buying me coffee?" He asked, a touch of annoyance in his tone. Norma's eyes met his. They looked a little tortured, like she really didn't want to be here.

* * *

"I wanted to ask you a favour. You really upset Norman, making him take that test," Norma said, not breaking eye contact. Alex looked away, out the window. Norma thought she saw a guilty look cross his face momentarily. "Alex, Norman is a sweet, sensitive boy. But he spends far too much time down in our basement, and it's not normal. I want him to be normal." She stopped talking as their coffees arrived. Romero took the opportunity to remind her of what normal was for teenage boys. "Norma, it _is_ normal for teenagers to want to be away from their parents. You've got to separate at some stage."

"What's _not normal_ is that he's down there stuffing dead things, Alex. Taxidermy. I don't want him doing it anymore. I want you to talk to him." Norma looked at Romero for his reaction, but as usual there wasn't much of one. He had an excellent poker face.

* * *

Romero stared at her. He didn't know what to think. His attraction to her clouded his judgement. He took his time before responding, carefully studying her for a clue. Taxidermy was definitely an odd choice of activity for a kid Norman's age. Romero took a few sips of coffee, thinking about whether to agree to it or not. "And what exactly do you want me to say?" He asked finally, setting the cup back down on the table. Norma smiled again, looking quite happy although he hadn't exactly agreed to anything yet. "I don't know, anything. Whatever your father said to you at seventeen that made you who you are today." Norma answered nonchalantly, sipping her coffee. "What? Norma I'm not his fath-"

"Well obviously. You're a lot better than him." Norma talked over him. Romero fell silent. He knew Norma was a widow. Why would she talk of her dead husband like that? Romero suddenly felt very curious and wanted to do some digging. "Alright, okay. I'll do it." Romero stood up, deciding to end the conversation there. "Thanks for the coffee."

* * *

Norma watched him leave, feeling victorious. She'd realised Norman needed a father figure, a man to look up to. Sheriff Romero was perfect for the job. Especially as she realised there was something between them. Occasionally, their eyes met and she knew he was attracted to her. She was attracted to him, too. Yesterday, when she'd seen him half naked, she'd come close to reaching out and touching him. He'd put his hands on her more than once. Like that time he'd picked her up from the council and taken her to his station to wait for Norman. And the other day, right after she'd found out Nick Ford had taken Norman.

Norma drank the last of her coffee and looked out the window as Romero drove past. She realised that other than his occupation and his personality, she really knew nothing about him. It didn't bother her, she trusted him completely. It was on more than one occasion now that he had saved her family. He could be forgiven for trying to find out whether Norman murdered his teacher or not – Norma was still sure Norman had done it, after all. He'd killed his own father.

* * *

Romero had been headed back to the motel, before Norma interrupted him. Now he was going straight back to the station, to find out everything there was to know about Norma's husband's death. An afternoon of anonymity in the next town over would have to wait until his next day off. Being the Sheriff, there wasn't many of those. And since everyone in White Pine Bay knew who he was, he could never really let his guard down around here.

Sitting down at his desk, Romero opened his laptop and typed in his username and password. He was about to run a search when he realised he didn't even know the man's name. Or where Norma had come from. "Damnit." He said to himself, leaning back in his chair to think. He ran a hand over his stubble, staring into space as he thought about how he was going to get that information.

Norman Bates. Talking to the kid would come in handy, now.


	3. Chapter 3

After their conversation, Norma didn't see Alex for a few days, and even then it was just the sight of his truck leaving the motel. She had made sure Norman was down there in the office from seven in the morning every day to give Alex the chance to speak with him. She frowned slightly as she folded up freshly washed towels, wondering whether he had yet. Norman hadn't said anything, but then he was quiet by nature. Norma gathered up the towels in a basket and headed down to the office with them. "Norman honey, have you seen Sheriff Romero lately?" she asked as she walked in.

Norman looked up at her and smiled. "No, Mother. Not since the other day." He said, standing up to leave as she walked past him. Norma set the towels down on top of the cleaning cart and looked back at him as he walked out. Presumably he was going to go finish off his bird while she cleaned the rooms. She wished he would just go hang out with Emma or something, but the poor girl's father had rang on Monday to say she was sick and wouldn't be able to work for a few days. Maybe Emma was just trying to avoid Norma after the whole quitting because she felt left out thing.

* * *

It wasn't until a few days later that Romero had the opportunity to talk to Norman. There had been a few murders related to Nick Ford's business as they worked out who was going to take over. Nothing Romero was interested in investigating, but he went around and spoke to people involved just to make sure. He would prefer it to be only the one marijuana business in this town but as long as the two companies were peaceful with one another and followed the rules, it would be business as usual.

When Romero woke up on Thursday morning, he wasn't in any rush to get to the station early. He took his time getting ready for work, then wandered over to the motel office, where he could get his morning coffee and drink it while he extracted information from Norma's son. Norman looked up as he walked in. "Good morning Sheriff," he said, smiling like he always did. "Hey, Norman," Romero answered, going straight to the coffee facilities. "How's it going?"

Norman made a non-committal noise, shrugging. Romero turned around to face Norman as he stirred his coffee. "Hope you're alright after all that's happened lately," he said. Like with the Blair Watson thing, he needed to get information without asking directly. "Bet you wish you had your dad to talk to sometimes," he added, watching Norman closely. Norman smiled awkwardly again. "Yeah, but I'm fine." His smile faltered slightly. Obviously, it was a tough topic for him. "He.. died a while ago. It was an accident." Norman looked away, smile gone now.

"A car accident?" Romero pressed, feeling a little bit guilty for pushing the subject. Norman looked at him again, probably wondering why Romero was asking these questions. "I only ask because I lost my father too." Romero said in explanation for his sudden curiosity. It was partly true. Norman nodded in sympathy. "Oh. No, but it was in our garage. He hit his head." Norman looked away again, looking sad. It was Romero's turn to be sympathetic. "If you ever need someone to talk to, Norman, you can come to me, alright?" Romero started towards the door. "Thanks Sheriff." Norman said quietly.

* * *

Norma was cleaning up after breakfast when the phone rang. It was the mayor, delivering the news Norma had been expecting since Christine's comment the other day in the supermarket. Work had begun on the bypass, and Norma's seat had been given to someone else. The mayor gave the reason that Norma had missed an important meeting last week, but the real reason was that Nick Ford was dead and Christine and George now hated her. After Norma hung up the phone, she slumped down at the kitchen table with a coffee. The bypass matter was out of her hands, and she didn't care for losing the seat now, knowing that she couldn't stop the road. If it wasn't early in the morning, she'd down a real drink.

Norma headed down to the motel, prepared to break the news to Norman. "Norman?" She called as she walked into the office. "Back here, Mother." He answered, coming to the door. "Norman, I have bad news." She began, then hesitated. How much should she tell him? "What is it Mother?" Norman asked, looking concerned. Norma sat down at the front desk, sighing. "I lost my seat in the council. I think Christine told the mayor about how I lost it at George last week.. when you were missing. It doesn't matter, really. They started working on the bypass road today. I can't stop it." Her voice had risen higher throughout her speech and she was beginning to cry. "What are we going to do, Norman?" Norman just held her wordlessly. A part of him, a part he had no consciousness of, knew exactly what to do.


	4. Chapter 4

**For Romero's dream, please read "Take Control" s/10433939/1/Take-Control**

* * *

In the early hours of Friday morning, Romero's phone went off, disrupting a very pleasant dream. A dream about Norma Bates. "Yeah." He answered. "It's Deputy Lynn. We have a homicide." Romero sat up wearily. "Where?" Lynn gave him the address. "I'll be there soon." He hung up and got out of bed, dressing slowly while he remembered his dream. He glanced back at his bed, to make sure she wasn't there. It had been a vivid dream, and the sensation still lingered in certain parts of his body.

Twenty minutes later, Romero arrived on scene, at Christine Heldens home. "Her husband found her. Said he can't get a hold of her brother." Lynn met him at the door. "Do you want me to find the brother?" She asked, blocking his path into the house. "Ah, yeah. Go." He pushed past her, walking to the kitchen where Christine Heldens lay bloodied. Romero immediately noticed multiple stab wounds to her chest. He took in the surroundings for a few moments, then returned to the front of the house, where the husband, Peter, was being treated for shock. Romero asked a few questions. It was not long until he received another call – Deputy Lynn and Jeffcoat had found the lifeless body of George Heldens.

* * *

Norma was up early after a long, sleepless night. She immediately went to Norman's room to check on him, finding him as she expected, sound asleep. Norma smiled, watching him for a while. Whatever happened, she would always have him. As long as he didn't have any more blackouts. And as long as he was with her, he wouldn't. The problem with that was that summer was over. He was going back to school on Monday, where she couldn't protect him. Norma sighed, and headed downstairs to start breakfast. Norman would be up soon.

Norma wondered again as she cooked some eggs whether Sheriff Romero had talked to Norman yet. She'd noticed yesterday that he had left later than usual, but she'd been so distracted by the phone call that she'd forgotten all about it. Maybe she would call him later, or go in and see him. "Good morning, Mother." Norman said, giving her a hug from behind and startling her slightly. "Oh, Norman, good morning. Sit down, breakfast is almost ready." Norman sat down at the table, waiting patiently for a few more minutes in silence. Norma placed a plate of eggs and toast in front of him, as well as a glass of juice, then sat down at the opposite end of the table and lovingly watched him take his first few bites before starting to eat her own breakfast.

Later, when Norman was down in the motel, Norma called the sheriff's office. "Hi, Sheriff Romero please, this is Norma Bates calling." There was a pause on the other end of the line. "I'm sorry, he's not here right now. He won't be back for a few hours. Can I take a message?" The receptionist replied. "Ah, no. Just tell him I called, please." Norma hung up, sighed, and then went about her day. She'd wait in the motel office later for him to get back.

* * *

It wasn't until after eight that night when Romero got back to the motel. He tiredly turned the key in the lock to open the door, turning around when he heard Norma approaching. "You look like hell," were the first words out of her mouth. Romero rolled his eyes and stepped into his room, turning the light on. "Thanks. I didn't get much sleep last night." He replied, shrugging off his leather jacket as she caught up to him, standing in the doorway. "Why, what happened?" Norma asked curiously. Romero knew he had to tell her. Her boyfriend was dead, and his sister too. "Two murders." He turned to face her after throwing his jacket on the bed. "I'm sorry, Norma, George and Christine Heldens are dead."

Norma stared at him in shock. No words came out of her open mouth, which Romero felt an inappropriate urge to kiss. She seemed to sway, and grabbed the doorframe for support. Romero quickly took her arm and led her to the bed, shutting the door behind them. Norma sat down and after a few minutes, finally managed a few words. "Oh my God."

* * *

Norma wasn't thinking about George or Christine, but about Norman. Norman had acted strangely when Norma told him about the phone call. The same way he acted when he was about to have a black out. Was it possible? Did Norman..? She looked at Alex, who had sat down next to her and had his hand on her back. As usual, his face had the same neutral expression. But his eyes, they were full of concern.

* * *

After going around town all day, questioning many people, Romero had had slight suspicions of Norma. He knew she had lost her council seat, as a result of a falling out with George and Christine. And of course, Nick Ford was no longer threatening the mayor. She had admitted to stabbing Keith Summers to death, despite his body never being found. But the way she had reacted to the news of the Heldens' deaths, however, told him that she knew nothing about it. He sat with her for some time on the side of his bed, all the time fighting with himself over the desire to lay her down on it. Norma didn't cry, just sat there in shock. "Was there something you wanted to talk about, Norma?" Romero asked, to change the subject, seeing as she had come to him.

"I just wondered if you had talked to Norman yet." Norma replied quietly, looking him in the eye. "Yeah. I don't know if it will get him out of your basement, but he knows he can come to me if he needs to talk." Romero answered. Norma didn't reply, and stared at the door again. After a while, she stood up. "I better get back up to the house.. Norman will be wondering where I am." She said quietly. Romero nodded, and walked her to the bottom of her stairs. "Night, Norma." Back in his motel room, he knocked back a glass of bourbon and a couple sleeping pills, just to forget the day he'd had.

* * *

Norma walked up the stairs to her house but as soon as she was inside she ran to Norman's room. He was reading a book, the subject of which was taxidermy. Norma sat down at the foot of the bed, gazing at her son. It was well known he had killed a man by accident, but little did anyone in this town know, Norman had also killed his father not so long ago. It was for this reason that Norma knew Norman was capable of murder. She was fairly sure he had killed his teacher as well, even though the polygraph test proved otherwise. Had he blacked out and killed George and Christine?

Norman looked up at her. "Is everything alright, Mother?" He asked, sounding concerned. Norma sighed. "Norman, George and Christine are dead. They were murdered.." Norma told him, watching him for a reaction. He blinked, and then in one swift moment, threw his arms around her. "I'm so sorry, Mother." He said it the same way as Alex had, to sympathise her loss, but when he pulled away from her, she was sure she could see a hint of happiness in his expression.


End file.
